Amit Shah hits back at Opposition, rattles off NDA govt's report card

Lucknow: Attacking the opposition for accusing NDA of failing to keep its poll promises, BJP chief Amit Shah on Saturday said the single biggest achievement was providing a corruption-free government and slammed SP and BSP for having propped the Congress-led UPA dispensation for ten years.

Dubbing BSP and SP as "Kuaan aur Khaai" (deep sea and the devil) for the people of poll-bound Uttar Pradesh, he said the Congress and JD(U) leader and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar were "vote splitters".

On accusations by SP, BSP and Congress that the Modi government has failed to keep its poll promises, Shah said no opposition party can ever level a single charge of corruption against the Narendra Modi government.

"Akhilesh babu (Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav), if you are listening...if your ears are open, then listen. What SP, BSP and Congress could not do in 70 years, we have done in two-and-a-half years," he said.

"Akhilesh babu and Behenji (BSP supremo Mayawati) seek report card from us every day. I will give you the list of achievements. For 10 years, SP and BSP have provided crutches to the Congress-led UPA at the Centre. They are more responsible for the ills," he said at a workshop of party's IT cell workers.

BJP President Amit Shah. PTI

The BJP president's retort came in the wake of the UP chief minister, the BSP chief and Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi charging the Modi government with not fulfilling promises made by the party during the 2014 Lok sabha elections like getting back black money from abroad and transferring Rs 15 lakh to each account holder in the country, besides providing employment and checking inflation.

Rattling off the schemes initiated by the Modi government, he said one could not read the names in one breath as almost every fortnight a new scheme was being launched.

"Earlier it used to be 'we will see', 'we will consider', 'we will do', ... do you know who used to speak like this?" he said without naming Congress Prime Minister late Rajiv Gandhi.

"These days Rahul baba, who is planning to embark on a yatra, has been harping on SP and BSP tune. He too asks what Modi government has done," Shah said.

"Till people dump the governments led by 'bua' (aunt Mayawati) and 'bhatija' (nephew Akhilesh) who have ruined the state with their casteist politics, development of UP will remain a far cry. UP has had good governments under Kalyan Singh and Rajnath Singh," Shah told the audience.

The BJP leader likened SP and BSP to 'kuaan' and 'khaai' -- an expression to convey that the voters had to understand that both were equally bad for the state.

On Samajwadi Party's flip-flop over merger of gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari's Qaumi Ekta Dal with the ruling party, he said, "There is a shadow boxing going on in the Samajwadi Party."

"Senior SP leader Shivpal says go ahead with it. chief minister says, No! and SP supremo Mulayam says ok...I want to ask even if they don't take Afzal (QED MLA) they still have (don) Atiq Khan and some others of their kind," Shah said.

"On the other hand, BSP has Naseemuddin Siddiqui who raised (slogans) against a young girl (daughter of an expelled BJP leader). Women of Uttar Pradesh will never pardon him... for the people of state it is like kuaan and khaai with these parties around," he said, asking the people to vote for BJP which does not take help of anti-social elements and works for development.

On Akhilesh accusing the BJP government of not giving enough to the state which gave them 73 MPs in the Lok Sabha polls, Shah said the 14th Finance Commission gave Rs 7.10 lakh crore to UP, which is Rs 5 lakh crore more than the previous time and asked as to where it has all disappeared.

"It is the duty of the state government to provide water, power, roads, education, employment...why is he asking what we did, we gave Rs 5 lakh crore more...development in UP is not possible in the present atmosphere and change will have to be brought by uprooting the SP government," he said.

Referring to the proposed padyatra to be undertaken by Rahul, Shah said he was trying to breathe life into the party.

He also ridiculed the Bihar chief minister and said what the JD(U) leader had no base in the poorvanchal. "Does he have any base there? At best Congress and JD(U) could split votes and not form the government," he said.

"People should beware of these vote-cutwa (vote splitters)," he said.

Shah said it was time for the SP government to tell the voters as to what work it had accomplished in the last five years. "Our turn will come in 2019 and at that time we will give our report card," he said.

"But, I can tell you that our biggest achievement is we have given the country a PM who speaks. During the last 10 years (of UPA rule) none had heard the prime minister(Manmohan Singh)," he said, terming him as "mauni baba".

Secondly, the Modi government is one which takes quick decisions, Shah said.

He also said, during the UPA rule, scams to the tune of Rs 12 lakh crore took place in spectrum allocation, antrix deal, VVIP choppers deal, CWG games and coal block allocations.

"And all the while SP and BSP kept providing prop to the Congress-led alliance at the Centre," he said, adding that both these parties were more responsible than Congress for the ills.

"Are Behenji and Akhilesh so innocent that they continued their free support to the UPA government for ten years?" he asked.

Attacking BSP, he said leaders seeking tickets there were running away and joining the BJP.

"It is your duty to strengthen Modi's hands. Dump these parties and see BJP triumph for all round development of Uttar Pradesh," he added.